In general, card readers are connected to relay servers or VAN servers through on/off dedicated lines in order to carry out credit card payments.
Credit cards are mainly classified into a magnetic card and an IC card according to a method of storing information therein. The magnetic card uses a magnetic stripe, and the IC card, called a smart card, has an Integrated Circuit (IC) chip therein.
Herein, the magnetic card is referred to as a contact type card, and the IC card is referred to as a non-contact type card.
A contact type card has a magnetic stripe in which data is stored.
A separate contact type card reader is required to read the data from the magnetic stripe of the contact type card.
Namely, the contact type card reader includes a magnetic head and has a card insertion opening, and when the contact type card passes through the card insertion opening from top to bottom, or from left to right, the magnetic head reads the data stored in the magnetic stripe that is attached to the back side of the contact type card, and the contact type card reader outputs the data on the screen and provides various pieces of information to an inquirer.
Meanwhile, a non-contact type card has an IC chip therein, which stores all information therein. The non-contact type card is widely used because it has a higher storage capacity than an existing magnetic card and exhibits good security.
For this reason, the non-contact type card is diversely used for general banking, a credit card, a transportation card, an ID card, etc. In addition, since the non-contact type card may also perform the function of electronic money, the non-contact type card is used to purchase goods in Internet shopping malls or to purchase charged content, as well as to pay a congestion fee, a parking fee, a highway toll fee, etc.
A non-contact type card reader is required in order to stably use the non-contact type card on the Internet, which can be used for various purposes. The non-contact type card reader includes a card reader main body, a signal processing unit, an RF module, an antenna, and a printed circuit board.
The non-contact type card reader is a device that may transmit data from a card to an external device through a connector.
However, in order to use the existing contact type card or non-contact type card, a contact or non-contact type card reader is separately required, which causes an inconvenience to the user.
In other words, there is a shortcoming in that a user has to have a contact type card reader when using a contact type card and has to have a separate non-contact type card reader when using a non-contact type card.
Recently, in order to overcome the shortcoming, a card reader has been developed to use a contact type card and a non-contact type card together.
However, the conventional card reader that is usable for both a contact type card and a non-contact type card, which has separate card insertion openings for sliding the contact and non-contact type cards, causes an inconvenience to the user because the user has to insert a contact type card into the card insertion opening dedicated to a contact type card in order to use it, and has to insert a non-contact type card into the separate card insertion opening dedicated to a non-contact type card in order to use it.
Accordingly, a card reader in which both a contact type card and a non-contact type card can be used through a single card insertion opening is required.